Visit to RSPB South Stack : 18th July 2013

Visit to RSPB South Stack : 18th July 2013

We have had an absolute wash-out of a Spring and it has prevented us this year from going to some of our usual haunts at that time. These would normally include a seabird colony or two but this year we had not got to one during Spring and we had left it a little late in the year. Even so we thought, “better late than never” so what better place to go to than South Stack ? We suspected that we would be a bit late for some of the birds we would have liked to have seen and we were disappointed not to see Kittiwake or Fulmar. However there were the usual plentiful numbers of Guillemots and Razorbills – too many to estimate properly – and we even managed to see half a dozen Puffins still around.There were many Herring Gulls and Lesser Black-backed Gulls. We walked pretty much most of the 400 steps down to the bottom of the cliff and back up again in searing heat. In fact it was a bit too hot for birding as it is, of course, very exposed up there. We tried hard to spot the usual Choughs but we were disappointed here also. In fact there were lo Linnets or Chats only a single Meadow Pipit followed us from post to post along the coastal path which is now badly eroded.

In the end we felt it was a little too hot to continue so we headed off to Cemlyn Bay to see the Tern Colony.